The reports coming out of Kenya and Tanzania were more than a little disturbing.

In some areas, the reported incidence of tuberculosis was as high as one out of every three people. The death toll was beginning to mount. The source of the outbreak remained unclear.

By the time Dr. James A. Johnson Jr. and his team arrived on the scene, local governmental and medical officials admitted they were stumped. Some were calling for a massive &045;&045; and costly &045;&045; inoculation program.

Johnson and his team of United Nations experts convinced officials to hold off until they had time to assess the situation. Then they went to work.

What Johnson and his team didn’t know was how the tuberculosis was being spread. Like detectives seeking clues to a crime, they began to systematically analyze the affected areas searching for clues.

The solution proved as simple as it was effective: ventilate the buses.

Tuberculosis is an airborne disease. Because many African roads are unpaved, the windows on the buses were frequently left closed to keep dust out. Thus, when someone infected with TB got on a crowded bus, one cough could literally infect dozens of others.

The solution was to devise a ventilation system to go on top of the buses. Dust was kept to a minimum and the danger from infection greatly reduced. The incidence of TB has since shown a marked decline.

For Johnson and his team, it was yet another successful intervention.

Johnson works in the field of medical social science, focusing primarily on international health issues in developing countries. Working with the World Health Organization in Geneva, he has participated in development projects throughout Africa, Nepal, India and Mexico.

In addition he maintains his own consulting practice based in Atlanta and serves on the faculties of the Medical University of South Carolina and the Dow College of Health Professions at Central Michigan University.

Earlier this summer, he spoke at the Global Summit on Bioterrorism in Rome.

Today, Johnson is recognized as an international health consultant, lecturer and author whose textbooks are used throughout the United States and Canada. But back when he attended Meadowview School in Selma, he was known to friends as simply Beau Johnson.

After years of traveling to more than two dozen countries and participating in countless interventions around the world, Johnson is returning to his roots in Selma. Mama’s calling.

His parents are James and Mishie Johnson. His wife, Peggy Fore Johnson, is a registered nurse. Their two eldest children, Allen and Adam, are both in college. Their youngest, Elizabeth, is in the 8th grade.

The Johnsons have set up temporary residence at Grace Hall while they restore a historic dwelling place that will become their permanent home.

Combining science and society

Johnson describes the field of medical social science as the point where &uot;health and society interact.&uot;

Medical social science is grounded in research and takes a multi-faceted approach to solving the problems it confronts. An intervention team may consist of physicians, economists, epidemiologists, veterinarians and even clergy.

Johnson has participated in interventions dealing with everything from malaria to the relatively high incidence of hypertension in Mexico to the epidemic levels of AIDS in Africa.

The most effective interventions, he adds, are often the simplest.

Stemming the floodtide of AIDS cases in Africa has proven more difficult. Of the 9 million new cases of AIDS reported last year, 7 million were located in Africa.

From Selma

to the world

Johnson drifted toward the medical field as a career after graduating from high school and becoming an Air Force medic. As a kid of 19, he was stationed in Cyprus in a medical field hospital similar to the MASH units familiar to TV audiences. &uot;It kind of got in my blood,&uot; he explained.

Following his stint in the service, he traveled around Europe for a year before &uot;deciding to get serious about my education.&uot; He received a masters in health administration from Auburn and a Ph.D. in social science from Florida State.

Since then his travels have taken him literally around the world. He describes life in the field as &uot;high-energy and invigorating.&uot;

His travels can be alternately touching and sad. Of all the places he has traveled, Johnson singles out Nepal (&uot;the Himalayas are a very spiritual place&uot;) and Ireland (&uot;a friendly people &045;&045; they all treat you like cousins &045;&045; and good beer&uot;) as among his favorites.

But it is Africa that calls to him most strongly. &uot;Africa,&uot; he says, &uot;holds a special place in my heart.&uot;

His least favorite destination, perhaps, is India. &uot;I find India to be a very sad place,&uot; Johnson explained. &uot;The poverty, the disease, the overcrowding. Even for a person who’s seen a good bit of the world, India can be overwhelming.&uot;

Humor is not an unfamiliar companion on his travels. &uot;Once,&uot; he recalled, &uot;I was invited to speak at Oxford University &045;&045; which, for a professor, is sort of like being invited to go to heaven.

Back home again in Selma, Beau Johnson throws back his head and laughs heartily at the irony of it all.